Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword: Looking for God in the Gutter Douglas Rushkoff (Creator, Testament; The New School) Introduction Christine Hoff Kraemer (Cherry Hill Seminary) and A. David Lewis (Boston University), editors NEW INTERPRETATIONS The Devil's Reading: Revenge and Revelation in American Comics Aaron Ricker Parks (McGill University) London (& the Mind) as Sacred-Desecrated Place in Alan Moore's From Hell Emily Taylor Merriman (San Francisco State University) Drawing Contracts: Will Eisner's Legacy Laurence Roth (Susquehanna University) Catholic American Citizenship: Prescriptions for Children from Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact (1946-1963) Anne Blankenship (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Gold Plates, Inked Pages: The Authority of the Graphic Novel G. St. John Stott (Arab American University, Jenin) Comics and Religion: Theoretical Connections Darby Orcutt (North Carolina State University) Killing the Graven God: Visual Representations of the Divine in Comics Andrew Tripp (Boston University) Echoes of Eternity: Hindu Reincarnation Motifs in Superhero Comic Books Saurav Mohapatra (Creator, India Authentic) The Christianizing of Animism in Manga and Anime: American Translations of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Eriko Ogihara-Schuck (Dortmund University of Technology) RESPONSE & REBELLION On Preacher (Or, the Death of God in Pictures) Mike Grimshaw, University of Canterbury Superman Graveside: Superhero Salvation beyond Jesus A. David Lewis (Creator, The Lone and Level Sands) "The Apocalypse of Adolescence": Use of the Bildungsroman and Superheroic Tropes in Mark Millar & Peter Gross's Chosen Julia Round (Bournemouth University) From God Nose to God's Bosom, Or How God (and Jack Jackson) Began Underground Comics Clay Kinchen Smith (Santa Fe College) A Hesitant Embrace: Comic Books and Evangelicals Kate Netzler (Independent Scholar) Narrative and Pictorial Dualism in Persepolis and the Emergence of Complexity Kerr Houston, (Maryland Institute College of Art) POSTMODERN RELIGIOSITY Machina Ex Deus: Perennialism in Comics G. Willow Wilson (Creator, Cairo) Conversion to Narrative: Magic as Religious Language in Grant Morrison's Invisibles Megan Goodwin (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) "The Magic Circus of the Mind": Alan Moore's Promethea and the Transformation of Consciousness through Comics Christine Hoff Kraemer (Cherry Hill Seminary) and J. Lawton Winslade (DePaul University) Religion and Artesia / Religion in Artesia Mark Smylie (Creator, Artesia) Present Gods, Absent Believers in Sandman Emily Ronald (Boston University) Tell Tale Visions: The Erotic Theology of Craig Thompson's Blankets Steve Jungkeit (Yale University) Selected Bibliography Appendices

Promotional Information

Explores the roles of religion in comic books and graphic novels.

About the Author

A. David Lewis is a national lecturer in Comics Studies, an award-winning graphic novelist, and a PhD candidate in Religion and Literature at Boston University.


 

Christine Hoff Kraemer holds a PhD in Religion and Literature from Boston University and is Department Chair of Nature, Deity, and Inspiration at Cherry Hill Seminary, South Carolina.

Reviews

"Every art form has told stories of faith, and sequential art embodiments have included Egyptian tomb paintings, the traditional Stations of the Cross, and Bible comics from the last century. With the recent graphic novel boom, religious themes and interpretations abound, mostly summarized in a dozen or so popular books like Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to Super­heroes, Arie Kaplan's From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, and Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer's The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual Insights from the Legendary Superhero. Graven Images appears to be the first to take a broader and more academic approach, collecting 21 essays from a conference of the same name held at Boston University. While most of the contributors have faculty appointments, five are comics creators. Themes range across religions and denominations, from expected topics (animistic and Christian themes in the manga/anime Nausicaä) to surprising ones (connections between religion and underground comics). VERDICT This varied and thoughtful collection invites more serious consideration of the medium thematically and hopefully presages additional conferences and collections. For all academic and larger public libraries." — Library Journal

"Graven Images excels at offering sophisticated interpretations of comic books and graphic novels that demand critical attention...Undoubtedly, Graven Images is a valuable contribution to the study of religion and popular culture. For religion scholars engaged in comic book/graphic novel criticism, the collection sets a high mark and will likely become an essential reference point for those in the field. For general scholars of religion or popular culture, Graven Images offers insight into how religion is a self-conscious engagement for comic book authors and readers, yielding works of depth and power within genres frequently dismissed as child's play." -The Journal of Popular Culture

This scholarly anthology is a brilliant work on a number of levels. First and foremost, it is a beautifully written and often gripping read, with all of the essays demonstrating a similarly high level of academic rigor and accessibility... it would make an ideal starting point for anyone who wishes to explore the world of “serious” graphic novels (read: not just superheroes punching communists). In addition, Graven Images would make an excellent, in-depth secondary source for students and scholars of graphic novels from the undergraduate level up through the faculty. This volume is highly recommended.
*Religious Studies Review*

[…]the range and social-scientific sophistication of this collection makes it central to the current analysis of religion in comics/novels, of vernacular religion, and indeed of religion as such. I hope that anthropologists attend to this subject and bring our unique perspective to the fascinating and fertile topic.
*Anthropology Review Database*

"Every art form has told stories of faith, and sequential art embodiments have included Egyptian tomb paintings, the traditional Stations of the Cross, and Bible comics from the last century. With the recent graphic novel boom, religious themes and interpretations abound, mostly summarized in a dozen or so popular books like Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to Super heroes, Arie Kaplan's From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, and Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer's The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual Insights from the Legendary Superhero. Graven Images appears to be the first to take a broader and more academic approach, collecting 21 essays from a conference of the same name held at Boston University. While most of the contributors have faculty appointments, five are comics creators. Themes range across religions and denominations, from expected topics (animistic and Christian themes in the manga/anime Nausicaa) to surprising ones (connections between religion and underground comics). VERDICT This varied and thoughtful collection invites more serious consideration of the medium thematically and hopefully presages additional conferences and collections. For all academic and larger public libraries." - Library Journal
"Graven Images excels at offering sophisticated interpretations of comic books and graphic novels that demand critical attention...Undoubtedly, Graven Images is a valuable contribution to the study of religion and popular culture. For religion scholars engaged in comic book/graphic novel criticism, the collection sets a high mark and will likely become an essential reference point for those in the field. For general scholars of religion or popular culture, Graven Images offers insight into how religion is a self-conscious engagement for comic book authors and readers, yielding works of depth and power within genres frequently dismissed as child's play." -The Journal of Popular Culture
This scholarly anthology is a brilliant work on a number of levels. First and foremost, it is a beautifully written and often gripping read, with all of the essays demonstrating a similarly high level of academic rigor and accessibility... it would make an ideal starting point for anyone who wishes to explore the world of "serious" graphic novels (read: not just superheroes punching communists). In addition, Graven Images would make an excellent, in-depth secondary source for students and scholars of graphic novels from the undergraduate level up through the faculty. This volume is highly recommended. * Religious Studies Review *
[...]the range and social-scientific sophistication of this collection makes it central to the current analysis of religion in comics/novels, of vernacular religion, and indeed of religion as such. I hope that anthropologists attend to this subject and bring our unique perspective to the fascinating and fertile topic. -- Jack David Eller * Anthropology Review Database *